Letter: Colo's pot policy spillover effect

Wednesday

Nov 28, 2012 at 6:13 PM

While I have often adopted the phrase, "let the other guy be stupid," that is bad idea when it’s your neighbor. Now that Colorado has legalized marijuana, there are negative consequences we should be alert to.

The first problem, one that will likely affect Kansas, is drug tourism. Colorado does not require stoners to be Colorado residents. As Holland discovered, stoners from all around will flock to use legal pot. Crime typically increases in that situation. This cannot help but spill onto Kansas highways and border areas.

We can also expect marijuana-related vehicular trauma to increase. It doubled in California after the pot dispensaries became legal. Other trauma and injuries are likely with the large amount of outdoor sports, such as skiing, that goes on in Colorado.

I would also fully expect to see increases in marijuana addiction and thus stresses on drug treatment resources. Secondary addictions, such as meth and heroin, will likely follow.

At some point, academic difficulties are probable. It is a question as to how hard marijuana prevention efforts are adopted, but academics are a common casualty.

It is a joke to think only adults will use marijuana. As we saw in the 1970s when 13 states either had legal or decriminalized pot, marijuana use was at its peak. Over 10 percent of high school seniors used marijuana daily, and its use was dramatically higher than what we see now.

Alcohol is used twice as much as is pot by high schoolers. The difference is alcohol is legal for adults and pot is illegal for adults.

Indeed, our neighbors have chosen to be stupid, so Kansans must be alert to the spillover as Colorado opens Pandora’s box.